arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Justin Lanier.
Milnor computed the volumes of ideal hyperbolic prisms as part of an effort to construct 3-manifolds whose volumes are finite rational sums of the Lobachevsky function evaluated at rational multiples of pi. Motivated by these results and with an eye to related applications, we prove a volume formula for arbitrary ideal hyperbolic antiprisms, also called drums.
We introduce and motivate the definition of the virtual Rokhlin property for topological groups. We then classify the 2-manifolds whose homeomorphism groups have the virtual Rokhlin property. We also establish the analogous result for mapping class groups of 2-manifolds.
Johnson showed that the normal subgroup of a mapping class group generated by the genus $1$ bounding pair maps is equal to the Torelli group. Generalizing Johnson's result, we give two descriptions of the normal subgroup generated by the genus $n$ bounding pair maps using the Chillingworth and the Casson--Morita invariants.
We solve an infinite family of twisted polynomial problems that are cubic generalizations of Hubbard's twisted rabbit problem. We show how the result of twisting by a power of a certain Dehn twist depends on the 9-adic expansion of the power. For the cubic rabbit with three post-critical points, we also give an algorithmic solution to the twisting problem for the full pure mapping class group.
We classify homomorphisms from mapping class groups by using finite subgroups. First, we give a new proof of a result of Aramayona--Souto that homomorphisms between mapping class groups of closed surfaces are trivial for a range of genera. Second, we show that only finitely many mapping class groups of closed surfaces have non-trivial homomorphisms into $\text{Homeo}(\mathbb{S}^n)$ for any $n$. We also prove that every homomorphism from $\text{Mod}(S_g)$ to $\text{Homeo}(\mathbb{S}^2)$ or $\text{Homeo}(\mathbb{S}^3)$ is trivial if $g\ge 3$, extending a result of Franks--Handel.
We give a simple algorithm that determines whether a given post-critically finite topological polynomial is Thurston equivalent to a polynomial. If it is, the algorithm produces the Hubbard tree; otherwise, the algorithm produces the canonical obstruction. Our approach is rooted in geometric group theory, using iteration on a simplicial complex of trees, and building on work of Nekrashevych. As one application of our methods, we resolve the polynomial case of Pilgrim's finite global attractor conjecture. We also give a new solution to Hubbard's twisted rabbit problem, and we state and solve several generalizations of Hubbard's problem where the number of post-critical points is arbitrarily large.
In this note we make progress toward a conjecture of Durham--Fanoni--Vlamis, showing that every infinite-type surface with finite-invariance index 1 and no nondisplaceable compact subsurfaces fails to have a good curve graph, that is, a connected graph where vertices represent homotopy classes of essential simple closed curves and where the natural mapping class group action has infinite diameter orbits. Our arguments use tools developed by Mann--Rafi in their study of the coarse geometry of big mapping class groups.
We classify the connected orientable 2-manifolds whose mapping class groups have a dense conjugacy class. We also show that the mapping class group of a connected orientable 2-manifold has a comeager conjugacy class if and only if the mapping class group is trivial.
We provide a simple criterion for an element of the mapping class group of a closed surface to have normal closure equal to the whole mapping class group. We apply this to show that every nontrivial periodic mapping class that is not a hyperelliptic involution is a normal generator for the mapping class group when the genus is at least 3. We also give many examples of pseudo-Anosov normal generators, answering a question of D. D. Long. In fact we show that every pseudo-Anosov mapping class with stretch factor less than $\sqrt{2}$ is a normal generator. Even more, we give pseudo-Anosov normal generators with arbitrarily large stretch factors and arbitrarily large translation lengths on the curve graph, disproving a conjecture of Ivanov.
We answer the question of when a new point can be added in a continuous way to configurations of $n$ distinct points in a closed ball of arbitrary dimension. We show that this is possible given an ordered configuration of $n$ points if and only if $n \neq 1$. On the other hand, when the points are not ordered and the dimension of the ball is at least 2, a point can be added continuously if and only if $n = 2$. These results generalize the Brouwer fixed-point theorem, which gives the negative answer when $n=1$. We also show that when $n=2$, there is a unique solution to both the ordered and unordered versions of the problem up to homotopy.
In this note we show that many subgroups of mapping class groups of infinite-type surfaces without boundary have trivial centers, including all normal subgroups. Using similar techniques, we show that every nontrivial normal subgroup of a big mapping class group contains a nonabelian free group. In contrast, we show that no big mapping class group satisfies the strong Tits alternative enjoyed by finite-type mapping class groups. We also give examples of big mapping class groups that fail to satisfy even the classical Tits alternative and give a proof that every countable group appears as a subgroup of some big mapping class group.
The bounce spectrum of a polygonal billiard table is the collection of all bi-infinite sequences of edge labels corresponding to billiard trajectories on the table. We give methods for reconstructing from the bounce spectrum of a polygonal billiard table both the cyclic ordering of its edge labels and the sizes of its angles. We also show that it is impossible to reconstruct the exact shape of a polygonal billiard table from any finite collection of finite words from its bounce spectrum.
We show that for any $k$ at least $6$ and $g$ sufficiently large, the mapping class group of a surface of genus $g$ can be generated by three elements of order $k$. We also show that this can be done with four elements of order $5$. We additionally prove similar results for some permutation groups, linear groups, and automorphism groups of free groups.